The invention relates to an improved vehicle washing apparatus for use in automatic car washes which clean the outside of the vehicle wheels and tires, and rocker panels.
In the context of automatic car washes, various vehicle wheel and/or tire washing devices are known. (Here reference to the “tire” is to the rubber portion of the wheel/tire combination, while reference to the “wheel” is to the metal “rim” portion mounted to the vehicle axle. The tire is usually attached to the wheel in typical fashion using a bead sealer.) One known device for washing the exterior surfaces of the wheel and tire combination employs a stationary frame 19 which may be bolted to the ground, pivotably attached to moveable frame members 22 connected to a rotating brush frame 16. Rotating brush frame supports brush axis 14 about which rotating brushes 12 spin. Brush axis 14 has a longitudinal axis aligned with the vehicle length, as shown in FIGS. 1-1A. As the vehicle to be washed is conveyed past the rotating brush, with tires 20 in conveyor track 26, cleaning fluid from hose 18 may be discharged onto the outside of its wheels/tires and/or the rotating brush, and the rotating brush then contacts and cleans the outside surfaces of the tire 20 and wheel 23. Larger diameter rotating brushes may also clean the rocker panels of vehicles, as well. (When reference to tire and wheel cleaning is made here, it is understood that cleaning of the rocker panel, where applicable, is also meant to be included.) Upper portions of the vehicle may be washed with overhanging equipment carried by frame 27, for example.
Still referring to FIGS. 1 and IA, shock absorber 17 attached to support 22 may be used to absorb contact of the wheel and tire against the brush rotating on longitudinal axis 14 carried by frame 16. Support 22 may be permitted to pivot relative to frame 16 to enable rotating brushes 12 to be moved into pressurized contact with wheels and tires of cars having various “stances” or widths between the tires. Known devices accomplish this motion either through inclined surfaces and gravity movement, pneumatics, or through the use of biasing springs which urge support 22 toward the wheel and tire; surface inclination (in the case of gravity movement) or the force of the springs or pneumatics may be manipulated as desired depending upon the preference of the owner or manufacturer.
Given the length of the rotating brush (a typical length is 8 feet, for example), the speed of the conveyor and the tire diameter, typical conveyor car washes should enable one complete tire revolution or more during the wash. This means the rotating brush will only have relatively limited and brief contact with each tire portion to be cleaned.
Known rotating brushes are either entirely uniform in diameter along their length, or they are “poodle” type brushes. Poodle brushes have a repeating pattern of a squared-off, brush portion length with a constant diameter followed by a squared-off, brush portion length in which shorter brush bristles or filaments (or cloth or foam) are present, as shown in FIGS. 1-5. There are disadvantages with either type of known rotating brush, as now discussed.
Known uniform-diameter rotating brushes do not effectively clean the exterior surfaces of both wheels and tires. The reason is that modern wheels/tires include wheels with largely varying inward slopes and crevices, and may also have wheels with large distance variations between the vertical wheel surface and a fixed interior tire point such as its true center or centroid, in the case of a concave wheel. In other words, some wheels slope so that when viewed from the side, the wheel cannot be seen. Conversely, some wheels slope outwardly. Examples of different wheel types are shown in FIGS. 11-15. A uniform-width rotating brush whose axis is aligned with the vehicle length cannot effectively clean substantially all exterior wheel/tire portions for wheels/tires of different vehicles, because the cleaning portions of the rotating brush either do not touch all such portions, or do not contact them with sufficient force/cleaning penetration.
“Poodle”-type rotating brushes such as shown in prior art FIGS. 1-5 provide better cleaning than uniform-width rotating brushes, but still suffer from disadvantages. Known poodle brushes have filament ends that are squared off, not curvilinear. The valley diameter range for these brushes is believed to have been about 6-8 inches, while the peak diameter range is believed to have been about 11-13 inches. Further, this squared-off shape has been found less effective in cleaning, particularly in cleaning the exterior surfaces of wheels that inwardly slope and/or have significant crevices. Further, past stationary, rotating brushes, whether uniform-width or poodle type, have employed filaments (or cloth or foam elements) that are either too short to provide proper cleaning penetration and/or have an insufficient density providing insufficient cleaning penetration and/or apply insufficient force to be cleaned to provide satisfactory cleaning.